diff --git a/site/assets/css/extended/custom.css b/site/assets/css/extended/custom.css
index df0275b..135fadb 100644
--- a/site/assets/css/extended/custom.css
+++ b/site/assets/css/extended/custom.css
@@ -15,6 +15,47 @@
     }
 }
 
+/* Current topic shown beside the site title. PaperMod's .logo a carries the
+   full title weight; the topic reads as a secondary breadcrumb. */
+.logo-sep {
+    margin: 0 6px;
+    color: var(--secondary);
+    font-size: 24px;
+    font-weight: 400;
+}
+
+.logo .logo-topic {
+    font-size: 24px;
+    font-weight: 500;
+    color: var(--secondary);
+}
+
+/* Topic cards on the home page. The stats line and the section shortcuts sit
+   inside PaperMod's .post-entry, whose ::before overlay swallows clicks, so the
+   shortcut links need to be lifted above it to stay clickable. */
+.topic-stats {
+    display: flex;
+    flex-wrap: wrap;
+    gap: 4px 16px;
+    margin: 8px 0 0;
+    padding: 0;
+    list-style: none;
+    font-size: 14px;
+    color: var(--secondary);
+}
+
+.topic-links {
+    display: flex;
+    gap: 16px;
+    margin-top: 10px;
+    position: relative;
+    z-index: 1;
+}
+
+.topic-links a {
+    box-shadow: 0 1px 0 var(--primary);
+}
+
 /* Intro copy above a list of cards. PaperMod gives .post-entry a bottom margin
    only, and .md-content zeroes its last child's, so the intro would otherwise
    sit flush against the first card. Matches the card-to-card gap. */
diff --git a/site/layouts/index.html b/site/layouts/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..863ae78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/site/layouts/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+{{- define "main" }}
+
+{{- if .Title }}
+<header class="page-header">
+  <h1>{{ .Title }}</h1>
+  {{- if .Description }}
+  <div class="post-description">{{ .Description | markdownify }}</div>
+  {{- end }}
+</header>
+{{- end }}
+
+{{- if .Content }}
+<div class="md-content page-intro">{{ .Content }}</div>
+{{- end }}
+
+{{- /* The home page lists the research topics registered in data/topics.yaml,
+       not the site's pages: every content page lives under a topic, so the
+       default recursive list would dump raw digests here. */ -}}
+{{- $now := now.Format "2006-01-02" }}
+{{- range hugo.Data.topics.topics }}
+{{- $slug := .slug }}
+{{- $data := index site.Data $slug }}
+{{- $confs := len ((and $data $data.venues) | default dict).conferences }}
+{{- $journals := len ((and $data $data.venues) | default dict).journals }}
+
+{{- /* Nearest still-upcoming deadline, taken from the calendar page's events
+       (already normalised to ISO dates by pa-generate). */ -}}
+{{- $next := "" }}
+{{- $nextTitle := "" }}
+{{- with site.GetPage (printf "/%s/calendar" $slug) }}
+{{- range .Params.events }}
+{{- $start := printf "%v" .start }}
+{{- if and (ge $start $now) (or (eq $next "") (lt $start $next)) }}
+{{- $next = $start }}
+{{- $nextTitle = .title }}
+{{- end }}
+{{- end }}
+{{- end }}
+
+<article class="post-entry topic-entry">
+  <header class="entry-header">
+    <h2>{{ .title }}</h2>
+  </header>
+  {{- with .description }}
+  <div class="entry-content">
+    <p>{{ . }}</p>
+  </div>
+  {{- end }}
+  <ul class="topic-stats">
+    <li><strong>{{ $confs }}</strong> conferences</li>
+    <li><strong>{{ $journals }}</strong> journals</li>
+    {{- if $next }}
+    <li>next deadline <strong>{{ (time $next).Format "Jan 2, 2006" }}</strong> — {{ $nextTitle }}</li>
+    {{- end }}
+  </ul>
+  <footer class="entry-footer topic-links">
+    {{- range slice "venues" "calendar" "digests" }}
+    <a href="{{ printf "%s/%s/" $slug . | relURL }}">{{ . | title }}</a>
+    {{- end }}
+  </footer>
+  <a class="entry-link" aria-label="{{ .title }}" href="{{ printf "%s/" $slug | relURL }}"></a>
+</article>
+{{- end }}
+
+{{- end }}{{- /* end main */ -}}
diff --git a/site/layouts/partials/breadcrumbs.html b/site/layouts/partials/breadcrumbs.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecd8ba1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/site/layouts/partials/breadcrumbs.html
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{{- /* PaperMod's breadcrumbs start at Home and walk down every ancestor. The
+       header already shows "<site title> / <topic>", so the first two crumbs
+       would repeat it: drop the home page and the topic section, and render
+       nothing at all when that leaves the trail empty. */ -}}
+{{- if (.Param "ShowBreadCrumbs") -}}
+{{- $ancestors := .Ancestors.Reverse -}}
+{{- $crumbs := slice -}}
+{{- if gt (len $ancestors) 2 }}{{- $crumbs = after 2 $ancestors }}{{- end -}}
+{{- if $crumbs }}
+<nav class="breadcrumbs" role="navigation" aria-label="Breadcrumb">
+    {{- range $crumbs }}
+    <a href="{{ .RelPermalink }}">{{ .Title }}</a>
+    <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"
+        stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="feather feather-chevron-right">
+        <polyline points="9 18 15 12 9 6"></polyline>
+    </svg>
+    {{- end }}
+</nav>
+{{- end }}
+{{- end -}}
diff --git a/site/layouts/partials/header.html b/site/layouts/partials/header.html
index d7d1242..7b49a62 100644
--- a/site/layouts/partials/header.html
+++ b/site/layouts/partials/header.html
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@
                 {{- end -}}
                 {{- $label_text -}}
             </a>
+            {{- /* Inside a topic, name it next to the site title so the current
+                   research area is visible from every page. */ -}}
+            {{- $section := .Section }}
+            {{- range hugo.Data.topics.topics }}
+            {{- if eq .slug $section }}
+            <span class="logo-sep">/</span>
+            <a class="logo-topic" href="{{ printf "%s/" .slug | relURL }}" title="{{ .title }}">{{ .title }}</a>
+            {{- end }}
+            {{- end }}
             {{- end }}
 
             {{- $lsenabled := (or (not site.Params.disableThemeToggle) (and (not site.Params.disableLangToggle) (hugo.IsMultilingual))) }}
@@ -100,16 +109,6 @@
             </li>
             {{- end }}
         </ul>
-        {{- else }}
-        <ul id="menu" class="menu">
-            {{- range hugo.Data.topics.topics }}
-            <li>
-                <a href="{{ printf "%s/" .slug | relURL }}" title="{{ .title }}">
-                    <span>{{ .title }}</span>
-                </a>
-            </li>
-            {{- end }}
-        </ul>
         {{- end }}
     </nav>
 </header>